History of Cheatham County Tennessee United States of America

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Local History Notes:

Cheatham County was erected on February 28, 1856, out of parts of Davidson, Robertson, Dickson and Montgomery counties and was named in honor of Nathaniel Cheatham, speaker of the Senate at this time. Early settlers located along the streams. Benjamin Darrow located his home near Sycamore Mills about 1790. About the same time John Hyde and Howard Alley settled near Pleasant View. In 1796 a settlement was made at Ashland City by Robert Heaton and Braxton Lee. For the protection of the settlers against the Indians a blockhouse was erected at Half Pone.

The first county seat was held at Sycamore Mills on May 15, 1856, when the following magistrates qualified: W. L. Gower, chairman; B. F. Binkley, J. M. Lee, F. L. Hooper, Jesse Hooper, N. Crockett, J. L. Majors, R. T. Gupton, W. W. Williams, A. J. Bright and R. L. Weakley. Samuel Watson, the first county judge, qualified on the first Monday in June, 1856. For the county seat land was bought at Ashland from Mr. Lennox. The County Court held its sessions at Forest Hill, a short distance south of Ashland, until November, 1857, when its session was held for the first time at Ashland.

On December 8, 1859, Ashland became an incorporated town under the name of Ashland City, but through negligence of county officials the charter was forfeited. It was incorporated again with E. Dozier as mayor about fourteen years ago.

To Prof. A. S. Link is due, in no small measure, the great interest which the people of this county take in education. He founded Ashland Institute in 1880, and after one year was joined by R. S. Turner. Professor Link established the Link School at Thomasville in 1902. In 1859, Millwood Academy was opened at Sycamore by Professors Marvin and Lawrence. In 1884, Pleasant View School was opened by Prof. W. I. Harper. In 1868, the Sycamore Powder Mills bought the entire machinery of the Confederate works at Augusta, Ga., and moved it to Sycamore where it produced an important output until 1904.

At the narrows of the Harpeth River, Montgomery Bell carried on the manufacture of iron for many years.

Statistics of Cheatham County: Population, 1920, 10,039. Assessed valuation of taxable property, 1921, $4,840,766. Area, 400 square miles. Number of farms, 1,449. Mileage of railway, 28. Drained by Cumberland River and tributaries. Surface rolling and generally fertile. Has a fine growth of timber. Corn, tobacco, wheat and live stock are staple products. The Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis railways traverse the county. Ashland City, the county seat, has a population of 649, is on the Cumberland River and the Tennessee Central Railway, and has good schools and churches, a bank, newspaper, and several prosperous business establishments. Scholastic population of county, 3,413; high schools, 3; elementary schools, 58.

From: Moore, John Trotwood. Tennessee, The Volunteer State, 1769-1923. Vol. 1. Chicago, IL, USA: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1923.

Biographies:

William Henry Hulme, educator, was born in Cheatham county, Tenn., Oct. 25, 1862: son of Fountain Eliot and Lucy Anderson (Phillips) Hulme, and grandson of Henry Clayton and Lucy Anderson (Wright) Hulme, and of Benjamin and Harriet (Allen) Phillips. He attened the country schools of Tennessee and the Webb Training school of Bell Buckle, Tenn.; was graduated from Vanderbilt university, Nashville, Tenn., A.B., 1890, and was a graduate student at the Vanderbilt university, 1890-91, and at the Universities of Leipzig, Jena and Freiburg, Germany, 1891-94. He was a teacher in the Webb school, 1884-85: fellow in Greek at Vanderbilt university, 1889-90; teacher of English and mathematics at the University school, Nashville, Tenn., 1890-91; instructor in German at Western Reserve university, Cleveland, Ohio, 1894-96; was elected associate professor of English in the college for women at Western Reserve university in 1896, and professor of English in 1900. The degree of Ph.D. was conferred on him by the University of Freiburg in 1894. He was married, July 10, 1897, to Hedwig Eugenie, daughter of Constantine and Eugenic (Haas) Haas of Freiburg in Baden, Germany. He is the author of: "The Old English Version of the Gospel of Nicodemus ;" and contributions to the publications of the Modern Language Association of America, and other periodicals,

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Cheatham County Tennessee

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